Growing up in the South of France (between Cannes and Saint-Tropez, poor thang) artist Francoise Nielly had a childhood that was (visually) drenched in light and colour; two influences that are heavy in her painting style. She says that as a child she was often lonely, the colours of her surroundings greatly inspired her: "Yellow, sunshine, blue, heat, cicadas, pin smell, light... all of that classical imagery of South France is very alive as an experience inside of me".
While somewhat traditional, Nielly's textured portraits are inherently rebellious due to their fluorescent and neon paints. These colours and her heavy brush-strokes both conjure up a dazzling, powerful and playful sense in the viewer, but the subjects' faces never stray too far into the ridiculous – the balance is delicate and maintained by Nielly.
The now Paris-based artist alsp dabbles in photography, illustration and animation and has exhibited her work from Barcelona to Montreal.
More at
francoise-nielly.com.